Diversity Immigrant Visa

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Diversity Immigrant Visa program is a United States congressionally mandated lottery program for receiving a United States Permanent Resident Card. It is also known as the Green Card Lottery. The lottery is administered on an annual basis by the Department of State and conducted under the terms of Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Section 131 of the Immigration Act of 1990 (Pub. L. 101-649) amended INA 203 to provide for a new class of immigrants known as "diversity immigrants" (DV immigrants). The Act makes available 50,000 permanent resident visas annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.

1 Ineligible countries
- 1.1 Exemptions
- 1.2 Changes
2 Distribution and lottery process
3 Legal status
4 Green card lottery scams
5 Recent developments
6 Criticism of the DV Lottery System
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Ineligible countries

Those born in any territory that has sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the US in the previous five years are not eligible to receive a diversity visa. For DV-2008, natives of the following nations were ineligible: Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam [1]. The entry period for DV-2008 was October 4, 2006 through December 3, 2006.

The ineligible countries may change from year to year, and are determined by counting those countries which sent 50,000 "immigrants" in the five years including that covered by the last published immigration statistics.

[edit] Exemptions

The term 50,000 "immigrants" is partial and refers only to people who immigrated via the family-sponsored, employment, or immediate relatives of U.S. citizen categories, and does not include other categories such as refugees, asylum seekers, NACARA beneficiaries, or previous diversity immigrants. It is for this reason that Cuba, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Guatemala and Iran are not on the ineligible list despite sending over 50,000 immigrants in the previous five years. [2]

[edit] Changes

Changes to the ineligible list over the years include the following:

DV-2002: Poland and Taiwan removed, Pakistan added.
DV-2005: Russia added.
DV-2008: Brazil and Peru added.

The large number of changes for DV-2002 was due to a three-year gap between the publication of the 1998 and 1999 immigration statistics. In other words, DV-2001 was still using the statistics from the five-year period from 1994 to 1998 to determine country eligibility.

For DV-2009, Ecuador and Guatemala will likely be added to the ineligibility list, although in Guatemala's case the effect will be negligible since DV immigrants from that country have numbered in the single digits for the last several years.

Starting with the DV-2008, several questions and options for answers have been added. Applicants are now required to provide information, such as the country where they currently live and their highest level of education achieved, in the Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form (E-DV Entry Form).

[edit] Distribution and lottery process

The visas are distributed on a regional and national basis, with each regions sending less immigrants to the US in the previous 5 years receiving more diversity visas. In order to allow for those who do not pursue immigrant visas, more 'winners' are selected in the lottery than there are visas available. Hence being selected from the lottery does not guarantee an immigrant visa to the U.S. To receive a Diversity Visa and immigrate to the United States 'winners' must meet all eligibility requirements under U.S. law. Requirements include at least a high school diploma, or its equivalent, or two years of work experience in an occupation requiring at least two years training.

[edit] Legal status

In December 2005 the United States House of Representatives voted 273-148 to add an amendment to the border enforcement bill H.R. 4437 abolishing the DIV. Opponents of the lottery said it was susceptible to fraud and was a way for terrorists to enter the country. The Senate never passed the bill, and as of early 2007 there are no open bills suggesting the elimination of the green card lottery.

[edit] Green card lottery scams

There is a growing number of fraudulent green card lottery scams, in which agents take money from applicants by submitting application forms for them, usually for a fee between US$50 to US$250. Some claim that they can increase the chance of winning the lottery. This is not true - in fact, they may even delay the application or not submit the application at all. Likewise, some claim that they will provide free airline ticket to winners or other benefits such as multiple years submissions in future year. However, there is no way to guarantee their claims; actually, there are ample reasons for them not to fulfill their promises. Both the United States Department of State and the Federal Trade Commission have issued warning statements about this type of fraud or similar business practices ^[1] ^[2]

[edit] Recent developments

Over 6.4 million applications for the 2008 Diversity Visa Lottery were submitted — an increase of 0.9 million from the 5.5 million applications submitted in the 2007 Diversity Visa Lottery. Taking into account dependents, there were more than 10 million participants in the 2008 Diversity Visa Lottery.^[3]

[edit] Criticism of the DV Lottery System

The system doesn't have the capability to handle applications from two or more people with the same name and surname. For example if an applicant by name John Doe submits an application after another person also named John Doe, the system ends up rejecting both applications on the incorrect assumption that one person has submitted duplicate applications. it seems likely that the creator of the system didn't consider the fact that a name need not be unique to an individual.
Currently, there is no means by which an applicant to check the status of an application online.